Carly Simon v. Starbucks: You Probably Think This Suit Is About You

The Starbucks counter may resemble a CD store, but Carly Simon does not feel like the coffee conglomerate did enough for her recent album.

So she’s taking them to court and bringing in a big legal gun – super lawyer David Boies.

Simon signed with Starbucks label Hear Music, but five days before the release of her 2008 album, “This Kind of Love,” Starbucks “scaled back its involvement in the music business,” according to the New York Times. Simon now alleges that her poor album sales were a result of Starbucks’ “mismanagement.”

Simon went the quaint route at first, spending months handwriting notes to Starbucks chief executive Howard Shultz (“Howard, Fraud is the creation of Faith/ And then the betrayal. Carly.”), but now she’s made the dispute official.

NYT: On Friday Mr. Boies filed a lawsuit in California seeking $5 million to $10 million from Starbucks, alleging “concealment of material facts,” “tortious interference” with Ms. Simon’s contract, and “unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business practices.”

Ms. Simon’s complaints seem more about feelings than tortious interference. She sounds like a woman who has been hurt and is taking that hurt as personally as she always has. “I refuse to go gently,” she said.

Starbucks has not seen the complaint yet, but issued a statement saying it filled its obligations to Simon that her CD suffered from poor sales at other retailers as well.